Masquerade
by anth3m
Summary: "I could say the same, but I'd need to know your identity first, yeah." AU. ItaDei.


**Disclaimer: All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the text below. **

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"Are you ready yet, Deidara?"

"Almost, yeah!" The blonde shouted from his washroom. He adjusted his suit one more time, smoothing out most of the wrinkles and making sure that it was straight before putting on his mask. The mask covered his face from above his left eye to the bottom of the ride side of his jaw. It was an ash grey, swirls of different greys decorating it as though it was smoke. Around Deidara's right eye were little dots of golden yellow, a similar colour to his long hair that spilled over his shoulders after he'd taken down his half-ponytail.

The mask looked like an explosion, and Deidara loved it.

"Hurry up!" Deidara's best friend called from the bottom of the staircase. He played with his own mask, which resembled that of a puppet. In fact, it was a puppet mask. After Deidara had 'accidentally' blown up a puppet of Sasori's, he took what was still good. He just added a strap to the puppet head to make it a mask.

It suited him.

"I'm coming, yeah!" Deidara flew down the stairs, overly excited for his school's masquerade dance.

You see, Deidara had a secret admirer. For the past few months he would always receive anonymous love notes. Short, sweet little quotes that made his heart flutter, his eyes brighten, and Sasori gag. A few days ago, Deidara receive a note from his anonymous admirer saying that he would meet the blonde by the swing-set at the park near the school at 9:00.

Deidara was hesitant at first, as he had been bullied and pranked for most of his life about his weird sculptures and obsession of explosives, but he was prepared. In the back of Sasori's car was another tux and the same mask. The tux was from his older brothers prom, not as well-fitted, but it worked and the masks were cheap, so he didn't have to spend excess money.

"Great, can we go now? I'd like to scare people with my mask as soon as possible," Sasori drawled.

"Yeah, just drop me off at the park."

-IDI-

For the first time in his life, Uchiha Itachi was nervous.

He played with the hem of his jacket, ran his hands through his hair over and over again, and kept biting at his lip. He adjusted his deep-red tie over and over again and freaked out when the shade of red did not perfectly match the shade of red on his mask. He paced back and forth in his room, muttering about the flaw which ended up with his jacket becoming wrinkled which started the process over and over again.

His little brother was somewhere between laughing at his distress and screaming out of horror because - oh my God - Uchiha Itachi was capable of emotion.

"I don't really know what you're so stressed about, it's just a guy." His little brother's best friend Naruto said. He watched the older Uchiha mumble to himself and sigh from time to time.

"You wait until you have to find a way to woo Sasuke. Talk to me about being stressed over 'just a guy' then." Itachi snapped. Naruto spluttered, and Sasuke was still between horror and hilarity, not even registering the comment about him.

"Who are you and what have you done to my brother?" Sasuke was finally able to control himself.

"I've done nothing to him! Deidara has!" Itachi threw his hands in the air, his heart skipping at even the sound of the blonde's name.

Itachi wondered why, of all people, fate had somehow paired him with Deidara. The blue-eyed artist was short-tempered, loud, and a little obnoxious, but Itachi found that it just added to his perfection. Itachi had fallen, and he'd fallen hard.

He'd been Deidara's 'secret admirer' for months now and recently he'd asked the blonde to the masquerade dance, since there would be masks and the shorter teen wouldn't be able to recognize him right away. He'd asked Deidara to meet him at the swing-set by the school at 9:00, and it was already 8:48. He glared at his imperfect mask a little more, too nervous to finally confront his love.

The mask covered from above his right eye to the left of his jaw. Deep-red (though not the same shade of deep-red as his tie, curses) clouds with a thick white outline covered most of the mask, though the glossy black colour was still visible.

Itachi took a deep breath, "Sasuke, as a loving little brother instead of a cold bastard, tell me how I look."

"You look nervous, now get over it and go. You have 5 minutes until 9:00."

"What!?" Itachi yelled, dashing through the house to get to the park on time.

-IDI-

Deidara sat on one of the swings, checking his phone for the time every 2 seconds. He was anxious about meeting his secret admirer. He wondered if he was only admired because of his appearance and that once the mystery man met him, he would realize it.

Deidara hoped not. He at least deserved one boyfriend throughout the entire many years of high school.

_It's 9:06 already... Maybe it was a prank after all._ Deidara sighed and stood, turning around he was met with a tuxedo-clad chest. "Oh, sorry. I didn't-"

"Deidara," a deep voice interrupted. "Thank you, for meeting me here."

Deidara's eyes widened. This was his secret admirer? He looked up at the masked man. He had long raven hair that hung in a low pony-tail and piercing black eyes that contrasted his pale skin.

"So, would you like to dance with me?" The other teen held out his hand for Deidara to take, which he did with a blush, and led them towards the school. His hand was warm and his fingers laced with the blonde's perfectly. You could almost hear Deidara's heart pounding in his chest.

You could _see_ Itachi's heart pounding through his chest 2 000 times per minute. He was holding hands with Deidara. Deidara was holding hands with him. _If anyone dares pinch me they will die a long and painful death._

When they finally reached the gym where the dance was being held, Itachi pulled Deidara closer to him. He positioned it so that Deidara's hand rested on his shoulder and Itachi's rested on the blonds waist, their other hands connected. They moved around the floor fluidly, in perfect sync, never once messing up. Unknown to them, they had gathered a small audience surrounding them.

They looked into each other's eyes the entire time; deep-sea blue never leaving glossy black. Both let small smiles slip onto their faces, a slight blush came with Deidara's.

All of Itachi's dreams were coming true. The angel of his affection was looking at him with loving eyes. Deidara was dancing with him. Deidara was with him.

Deidara.

Itachi's eyes fluttered shut as he leaned down to Deidara's much shorter height. He pressed his mouth to the blond's and moved his one hand to wrap around Deidara's waist, pulling him closer.

Deidara's arms moved to the raven's neck as he kissed back, butterflies in his stomach. The kiss was perfect; the exact way Deidara had wanted his first kiss to be. Although he would like to know _exactly_ who he was pressed up against, he had a pretty good idea, and that made it all the better.

It was Deidara who pulled away first and quickly buried his head into his 'secret admirer's' chest, a dark red blush covering his face. He felt the deep rumble of the raven's chuckle against his head. His heart skipped a beat and he blushed harder when the other leaned down to his ear and whispered, "I'm in love with you, Deidara." Hearing his name from the other man made him smile brightly and plant another kiss onto his lips, despite his blushing.

"I could say the same, but I'd need to know your identity first, yeah." A lot of people found Deidara's speech impediment annoying, but to Itachi it was one of the most adorable things in the world. Oh look, he's getting soft on us. Cold, empty, deemed perfect Itachi was mush when with Deidara.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to suffer then," Itachi said with a small smile. No way was he going to tell the blond who he was. If Deidara didn't already know who he was it seemed safer to leave it at that. Itachi wanted this night, at least. The crowd around them had dispersed a while ago, and now it was just Itachi and Deidara swaying together, the shorter blond's head on the taller raven's chest.

-IDI-

"Well, thanks, I guess, for not being another prank, yeah?" Deidara stood in front of his door, the other man in front of him. "I'm glad that you were _real._"

"Thank you for making this the best night of my life, I'm glad that you didn't run." Itachi's hands were in his pocket and his eyes were glues to he porch floor. He was admittedly disappointed that he was dropping Deidara off. After this, everything went back to normal.

Deidara laughed and pulled Itachi's down by his tie. Their lips met, surprising Itachi. Before he had a chance to react, the blond pulled away. "I couldn't never run from you, _Itachi_. See you tomorrow, yeah," he smirked. Itachi was confused, he was sure that he hadn't given out any information about himself that the bond could have pieced together. Unless Deidara knew it was Itachi the whole time.

Deidara was suddenly inside and Itachi was left without his favourite source of warmth, but he did have a small slip of paper with the numbers of someone's cell.

So maybe not everything went back to normal...


End file.
